Quilt photos show AIDS impact

Photographer and writer Mary Pat Kane discussed the meaning behind the AIDS quilt with 25 students at a slide presentation on Wednesday night. Kane said she displays her photographs of the quilts to area schools in order to convey the dramatic impact of AIDS. "I found the quilt so emotional and riveting that I put this together," Kane said. While many schools are afraid to confront their students with sexual issues, Kane said she believes the quilt serves as a useful educational tool because parents and teachers do not feel threatened by it. Now displaying more than 20,000 names of people who have died of AIDS, the quilt covers more than twelve football fields, according to Kane. There are quilts representing AIDS victims from nations around the world such as Japan, Spain and Nigeria. The AIDS quilt project began in 1987, when 1,200 quilts were displayed in panels on the Mall in Washington, D.C. Although the current number of quilts seems immense, the 20,000 names they bear represent only 13 percent of the 152,000 AIDS deaths in the United States, and two percent of AIDS related deaths worldwide, Kane said. Organizers doubt whether the quilt will ever be displayed again in its entirety because it has grown so large, Kane said. The quilt now serves as a traveling monument and donation box, surviving solely on the artistic and monetary contributions of the public. The construction of each quilt is left to the discretion of family or friends, said Kane. Some are simple collages of a person's possessions, which range from a runner's numerous t-shirts to a single teddy bear. Famous personalities such as Rock Hudson and Liberace are elaborately commemorated with eye-catching designs. Other quilts exemplify the mystery of the AIDS epidemic by including only the first name of an anonymous loved one. Corporations such as Levi Strauss Jeans and Columbia Pictures commemorated quilts to employees who were infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. While most of the quilts were compassionate towards the victims, some were quite hostile to the stigma attached to the AIDS virus. For instance, one quilt protests the "anti-HIV" stance of the U.S. Olympic Committee towards its athletes. Students attending the presentation were struck silent upon seeing a slide commemorating a mother who died of AIDS, but never met her surviving daughter. The quilt was made by the healthy child's new adoptive mother. "I don't think anyone could look at these pictures and not be moved," said College senior Brad Goldberg. "It was definitely emotional. I never have seen the quilt in person before, I've just heard about it," said College senior Jennifer Trupkin. "Now seeing the slides makes me want to see the quilt." The presentation was sponsored as part of AIDS awareness month by Facilitating Learning About Sexual Health. Sections of the AIDS quilt will be on display at Temple University between April 19 and 21.

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